Blind Love
by sweetheartbreaker
Summary: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. So Yi Jeong is determined to prove his father wrong no matter how correct he may be. Though... he might fail on this one.


**Blind Love**

Yi Jeong angrily stalked towards the office of his father and without even bothering to knock, opened the door and said, "A _recording company_?" like those three words were the filthiest he could let out of his mouth. "You invested on a recording company?"

His father looked up at him from his seat with a calm smile. This was his second son, after all. Surely more stubborn than his first, but nothing he can't handle. "Sit down, Yi Jeong and let us have a calm talk," he pointed at the chair in front of his table.

"A calm talk?" Yi Jeong asked him disbelievingly but obediently walked to the chair and sat down. He folded his arms on his chest and crossed his legs but was still too tensed that he released them both at the same time and talked, "We're an art industry, father," he said exasperatedly.

"Present your case in a professional manner, So Yi Jeong," his father told him sternly, disliking his manners.

"We are a company celebrating art, sir," Yi Jeong said in gritted teeth. "We run a museum. We let painters, potters, and sculptors display their creations in that museum. We own different auction items all over the world. Why should we invest in a recording company?"

His father let out a hearty chuckle. "Oh, my boy, you are very closeminded indeed."

Yi Jeong was about to answer back when his father stood up and gazed at the window of the office overlooking a great view of the city. "Do you even have any idea what art is?" his father asked him.

Yi Jeong clamped his mouth shut, insulted. But it was a rhetorical question so he didn't dare answer.

"Music is art, too, I hope you haven't forgotten," he laughed again, is possible, louder than he did a while ago. "Remember when you fell in love with a voice?"

"I was 11 then," Yi Jeong said with a little edge on his voice. This topic has never left their family since it started. And Yi Jeong was sure it never will. "And this has nothing to do with the recording company."

"Of course it does!" his father exclaimed as he turned back to Yi Jeong. "A voice, son! Music! Art! You knew how to appreciate that when you were younger. You even fell in love with it!" His eyes were twinkling with delight. He couldn't just let it go.

Yi Jeong very well sounded like he was 10 years ago, "It's just a voice of an anime dubber. You've got to admit it was really good."

His father laughed again, anchoring Yi Jeong to where he was a while ago: a good point. "Besides," he said with a smile that didn't waver, "they have a beautiful project. I believe this company is going to progress exponentially."

Yi Jeong had a thousand arguments in mind that he could have said to reason out but instead he released a defeated sigh. His father will surely not back down with the decision he already made. He inherited the hard-headedness from him, after all. He stood up, bowed and was at the door when his father spoke again, "And do play nice with them, Yi Jeong. You may learn a lot."

"I will try," was the only thing he said, like their good father-son talk just a few seconds ago didn't happen.

Yi Jeong tried to look as calm as he can as he walked to his own office. People greeted him as he walked by and he tried his best to answer equally politely. He reached his office and before he can stop himself, he slammed his door closed which earned him a lot of gasps from the outside.

Next thing he knew there was a soft knock on his door and a cup of coffee was being placed on his table. "Bad day?" his secretary asked.

Yi Jeong sipped from the cup, let the coffee roll down his throat, and closed his eyes for a while before answering. "No, not really. Just the usual." He took big gulps from his cup before placing it down, empty.

Jane took the cup from his table. "Father business again?" she asked in Korean that's a little accented.

Yi Jeong nodded. Jane was his fifth secretary in the course of his time in his father's industry. She was hand-picked by his father from a batch that came from the US. She is Korean by birth but was raised up abroad. Yi Jeong was wary about her the first time since he didn't want to trust his father's decisions for him.

But as he knew, his father was a wise man to choose Jane. So far, she had been most patient with him, even when his was always wearing this. She very strong-willed and determined that she almost matched him but she had enough respect to acknowledge his superiority over her. After a course of time, Jane managed to earn Yi Jeong's trust and not just work as his secretary but also as a friend.

"Well, that's nothing new," Jane sighed. "I wonder what will it be this time."

Yi Jeong looked at Jane curiously, determined to follow his secretary's trail of thoughts. Jane knew of the recording company, and how furious Yi Jeong was when he found out. "What will it be this time what?" he asked, giving up on his psychic abilities.

Jane shrugged and made her way to the door. "I wonder what you will encounter this time. I'm sure your father has a lot in store for you." She patiently waited for him to formally dismiss her as she stood by the door.

His father was a man of surprises, everyone knew that. Yi Jeong wondered, not for the first time, what could be going on his father's mind. Well, one thing's for sure, there is only one way to find out. "Phone the recording company's manager for me," he told her.

Jane bowed. "Gladly," she smiled, as if she was expecting this decision from Yi Jeong a while back, and quietly went out of his office.

Minutes later, Yi Jeong was on the phone, trying to be patient with the overly-enthusiastic manager he was talking to who _still couldn't believe the Woo Sung Company invested on our small project_ and was v_ery honored to work with you, Sir,_and kept saying _We will very well do our best to keep the name of Woo Sung untarnished._ "Yes, yes," Yi Jeong said with a hand massaging his temple. "Yes, thank you for that," he said for the nth time as the manager kept on babbling about how grateful he was to Yi Jeong's father and to the company.

Yi Jeong wished he had another cup of coffee on his hand to keep him calm, or better yet, something with alcohol. He made a mental note to hoard something from Woo Bin's refrigerator that night when something the manager said caught his attention. "What was that?" he asked, then remembering his manners, repeated himself. "Come again, sir? The line's a bit choppy," he lied.

"The album should be released in a month's time," the manager said. "Has your father not told you, yet?" he asked, this time a bit uncertain, almost careful, as if realizing his former talk has been too enthusiastic.

Yi Jeong tried to reel back. Nope, his father has mentioned nothing to him. Just to play nice with this small recording company. "Yes, of course," he lied again. At the back of his mind he asked, _So soon? How can they do that too quickly?_

As if reading his mind, the manager quickly put in, "Our singer is plenty excited about the project. She has even contributed some of her own self-written songs." He said it with a sort of pride his father used when talking about Il Hyun, his elder brother, who runs 2 museums and bought almost half the auction items the family owns.

"Oh, that's very good then," was the only reply Yi Jeong can think about.

The enthusiasm a while ago was beginning to kick in again as the manager asked, "Shall we be expecting your presence soon, Mr. So?"

Yi Jeong scratched his head. Add that to the millions of things he needed to do this month. _Play nice,_ his father's voice echoed in his head. Yi Jeong pressed a button on his office phone to call Jane and make some arrangements. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and said, "How does next week sound?" the same time Jane picked up the call.

The manager almost squealed in delight that Yi Jeong could already see Jane smiling and cancelling an appointment or two on Yi Jeong's schedule the week after. "I can send you one of the songs as a teaser of the album by e-mail," the manager offered.

Yi Jeong didn't want a teaser. He didn't want any of this. But there was nothing else he can do. "I appreciate that," he said. After the call, Yi Jeong could only imagine what his father has in store for him.

Just before he closed his computer that afternoon, he received the e-mail containing the "teaser" the manager was talking about a while ago. Unwillingly, Yi Jeong downloaded the audio file to his phone and decided to listen to it while a having a drink with his best friends.

When the scheduled day of Yi Jeong's visitation to the company came, he wasn't prepared for it. Mostly because he didn't want to be part of anything his father concocts in his mind but even with his day cleared out of appointments, thanks to Jane, he still had the office to run, and it wasn't looking very nice.

Jane had been reminding him two hours ago that he might be late if he continued to "run" the office. (She said run with emphasis because she thought Yi Jeong was using it as an excuse. He was.)

"How about go on ahead of me?" Yi Jeong said as he leafed through the same contract again. It was from a different company, and Yi Jeong had read it about 10 times and understood nothing about the proposal. He wanted to finish and understand what it was about before he went to another business.

Jane bowed. "I'll tell them you'll be late for about half an hour then," she said. "No more, no less, Mr. So. Thirty minutes."

"You sound like my father," Yi Jeong complained.

"You sound like my son," she laughed.

Yi Jeong head shot up, "Son?" he asked. He heard nothing about it. When Jane applied here, she was single. It was one of his father's requirements.

"If I had one," she finished her sentence. She bowed and left the room.

With Jane there to stall half an hour for him, she gave him no more excuses. He had to be there, late for thirty minutes. He belatedly remembered about the song the manager sent him which he had not listened to yet. Let's correct that. He hasn't listened to yet sober. He was drunk when he listened to it, and he remembered not liking it at all so he didn't dare listen to it sober. Woo Bin said it was ok, but he was drunk, too. And Woo Bin was not famous for his music choices.

He played the music in his laptop and listened for a while. It wasn't _that_ bad. This singer, whoever she was, was really sappy. Singing about soulmates and love... He stopped the music. He just want this over with. He took his coat and called for his driver.

Jane was ultimately surprise when he arrived 10 minutes before supposed his 30-minute tardiness. The manager was giddy with excitement when he saw Yi Jeong and began touring him around. Yi Jeong couldn't care less about everything but Jane was there to poke him when he had thoughts about running away. And his father's voice was still haunting him, _Play nice._

"This is the recording room," the managed puffed out, a bit breathless. "And that's our singer there," he pointed at the lady behind the transparent glass wall who was reading silently off a paper that Yi Jeong guessed was her song.

The manager called her attention and told her to sing a piece for "our valued guests." She nodded enthusiastically. The music played and her voice was echoing through the air.

"This was the song you sent me," Yi Jeong said.

The manager look pleased he remembered. "Yes. It's very nice, isn't it? It's one of her works! She wrote it!" he said, pointing to the girl again.

Yi Jeong crossed his arms and pretended to be engrossed in the music. It was the least he could do to cover his ears. When the song ended, the singer bowed and beamed at them. The manager looked expectantly at Yi Jeong.

Jane had to poke him from behind to get something out of him. "It was fantastic," he said in his best good-job voice.

The manager bowed many times to thank him and so did the singer. Yi Jeong stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

When the manager finally stood up, he looked up at Jane, "Maybe you could sing the piece, Miss. You have such a lovely voice."

Yi Jeong couldn't control himself and snickered. He caught Jane's dangerous look and composed himself, "Yeah, Jane, why don't you give it a shot?"

Jane looked away, looking a little embarrassed. "I can't sing Korean songs very well," she said.

"Oh! That's no problem! We have English songs here, too," the manager said and disappeared to look for copies of songs. He reappeared with a paper in hand. "Here. It's just the English translation of the song a while ago. It has the same tune," he said.

Yi Jeong was impressed. _They could actually do that. _He looked up to see the singer staring at him. He looked away immediately. _Girls._

Jane was already behind the glass wall when he looked up again. The music played, Jane opened her mouth to sing and when she did, Yi Jeong was plunged back into to time... when he was still 11 years old. To the time when he and his father argued about which cartoon was better and which anime girl was better looking. To the time when business was just a far dream. To a time when he was in love with a voice. Jane must have been 10, then. Very young to be a voice actress... but he was sure. He couldn't be wrong.

Even in English, the song sounded more powerful, more alive. It almost convinced Yi Jeong to love and to believe that there is someone out there for him. Someone perfect for him. His better half...

The song ended and the manager applauded. "Outstanding, outstanding!" he said in English.

Jane stepped out of the studio and walked to Yi Jeong. "Well, does that sound like your father?" she teased.

He didn't hear her. He asked instead, "Is your real name Chu Ga Eul?"

Jane looked confused. "I go by Jane nowadays but yes."

"You dubbed an anime when you were 10."

Jane looked more surprised than confused. "Yes, it was a long time ago."

"That was my favorite anime."

Jane raised her eyebrows. Yi Jeong was randomly stating sentences. It was too weird for even her to comprehend.

The manager took Jane by the shoulder and said, "We should get you as a singer, Ms. Chu. You were simply lovely."

Jane, not missing a beat, said, "Thank you, sir! That is very generous of you."

Yi Jeong was still in his world, still listening to that voice he failed to recognize before. And his father was right once again. Yi Jeong's hearing and appreciation for music had gone down the drain. It's just now that he realize. It's just now that he hears ... really hears that voice that made him fall in love once, and will surely make him fall in love again.

The manager was on his tour-mode again and was heading for the door, leaving Jane and Yi Jeong behind.

"We should follow him, Mr. So. We might get lost," she told him.

But he still wasn't in the real world. He was still in between the world of seeing and hearing. And all he heard and saw was the owner of the voice that never left his head, not ever, from when he was young. "Ga Eul-yang?"

Jane was taken aback. "Yes?"

"Have dinner with me after this."

She laughed. "Ok, sir, but please let's think about the matters at hand first..."

"And call me Yi Jeong," he said.

She smiled. "Of course, Yi Jeong."

And curse his father because So Yi Jeong knew he was behind all of this. He shook his head and made sure to remember to thank his father later.


End file.
